What Holy Does: Nov. 2

 Year C, All Saint Sunday                        Luke 6:20-31         

          All Saint’s Sunday can be a little complicated.  We call it All Saints Day, but that’s confusing for a lot of Christians, especially anyone who has spent time in the Roman Catholic Church.  Catholics and Episcopalians share the belief that all baptized Christians (alive and dead) are considered saints.  This is how the apostle Paul used the word saint.   We hear that in his letter to the Ephesians: “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints…” When Paul used the word saint, he was always referring to the faithful, but imperfect Christians. 

What has led to some confusion, is that at some point the Roman Catholic Church created a process of canonization or beatification (and I am simplifying this greatly right now) in which a pope would declare a person worthy of veneration.  The pope doesn’t create a saint as they are already a saint because they are a Christian….the pope declares them worthy of veneration.  What is a bit confusing, is the person then has a “Saint” in front of their name…despite the fact that we are all saints.  I could refer to our baptismal candidates as Saint Matt, Saint George and Saint Owen….but let’s face it, that sounds a bit odd.

          What further complicates All Saints Day is that we read the names of those who have died in the last year and we have baptisms.  Reading the names of those who have died reinforces the idea that you have to be dead to be a saint.  In baptizing people we are reminding one another that saints are also the living.  I wonder if instead of asking what it means to be a saint, it would be helpful to consider what it means to be holy. 

In Hebrew and Greek (which are the languages that most of our Bible is translated from) holy meant to be set apart. To be holy meant to be separate from the world.  This caused some people to physically separate themselves from other people.  That’s why so many in the early church went to the dessert, to seek a deeper relationship with God away from everyone else.  It’s why even today there are Christians who think they should only associate with other Christians, as if non Christians would defile them in some way. 

I think one of the strengths of the Episcopal Church is that while we came from the Church of England, the Episcopal Church was really established in the very early years of our nation right here at this church and they were surrounded by different denominations and religions, very much thanks to the vision of William Penn.  Those church leaders who were around at that time understood that holiness didn’t mean that one had to be separated from those who weren’t like them.

          Yet over the years, especially the last 20-30 years, the Episcopal Church has been criticized for not being set apart quite enough.  We have been accused of going along with popular culture instead of standing up for the doctrines of our faith. Maybe that is true sometimes. Occasionally we can compromise a little too much.  But often we have worked along side popular culture because it’s actually the Christ like thing to do.  Ordaining women at the height of the women’s movement.  Did we do that just because that was what the public was telling us needed to happen, or were we listening to the movement of the Holy Spirit and studying the scriptures as well the traditions of the early church? When we consecrated the first openly gay man as a bishop, were we going along  with popular culture or were we once again moving with the Holy Spirit and as our baptismal covenant says---respecting the dignity of every human being?  I am biased, but I believe we were moving with the Holy Spirit. We have made many mistakes in the church over the years, but we have also corrected a lot of those mistakes, often with the help of people who are not in the church.

          Today, an interesting thing is happening. Popular culture is moving in a different way.   Many are trying to rebrand Christianity, in ways that I think are contrary to much of what Jesus taught. Some are trying to make Christianity the religion of the empire and that was never Jesus’ intention.  We Episcopalians have a unique opportunity right now to be counter cultural, as the church was when it started.  We can be holy in a different sense of the word.  We are not set apart from the world, we are just refusing to go along with what popular culture is trying to sell as Christianity. 

I was struggling with this sermon I asked my 9 year old son what he thought holy meant and he said, “When you host a party, you wash everyone’s feet.”  He didn’t try to define holiness.  He said what it does.  Holiness isn’t a state of being. It’s action.  And that is exactly what our Gospel is about.  After Jesus shared the beatitudes where he lifted up a very counter cultural message he said, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.  Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you…”

          It’s probably one of the hardest messages of the Christian faith.  It would be easier to be separate from these people who are hating us, abusing us, stealing from us, begging….  But holiness, and saintliness is not about how we separate ourselves.  It’s how we connect ourselves to one another.  That doesn’t mean we don’t stand for what we believe in even when it is contrary to what others are saying we should believe.  It means we don’t stand alone.  We continue to stand in the midst of the chaos, the crime, the self righteousness, the anger, the hate….all those things we want to ignore.  We stand in the midst, sometimes holding up the others who can’t stand for themselves because they have been too beaten down, too battered.  We stand with them or we don’t bother standing at all.

          This is where the community of the saints comes together. This is why we read the names of the beloved faithful who have died over this past year and we baptize children who have no idea what they are getting into (but have parents and godparents who do) and we baptize adults like Matt who knows mostly what he is getting himself into.  You are not just being baptized for yourselves, but for the whole community, so you have strength to stand for others, the strength to do the hard things like loving our enemies….even the really really annoying ones.  And it’s ok if you are not there yet, whether you are a child, or a young adult, or you are 94.  I am not sure I am ever going to get good at loving my enemy.

          But I worship a man named Jesus who was born as a baby to poor parents and was killed by the Roman empire for crimes he didn’t commit and forgave those people as he was dying on the cross….and then rose from the dead because he wasn’t just a really good guy. He’s God and he showed us all—not just what holiness looks like, but what it does.